Throwaway flashlight



United States Patent O 3,147,927 THROWAWAY FLASHLHGHT Murphy Steele, RR.2, and Harvey R. Whitham, RR. 1, both of Versailles, Ind., assignors ofone-third to Ralph B. Goolrius, Napoleon, Ind.

Filed Jan. 2, 1962, Ser. No. 163,640 1 Claim. (Cl. 240-10.66)

This invention relates to flashlights and more particularly to throwawayor disposable ilashlights.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a completeilashlight unit made of inexpensive materials.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a ilashlight thatis compact, lightweight, and if lost will be of no consequence to theowner thereof.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a throwaway llashlightbearing the above objects in mind which is of simple construction, has aminimum number of parts, is inexpensive to manufacture, has a minimumcost and is ellicient in operation and use.

For other objects and for a better understanding reference may be had tothe following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical view comprising the present invention and isshown partly broken away;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective View of the present invention.

Referring now more in detail to the drawing, the llashlight made inaccordance with the present invention is shown to 4include a hollowcasing 12 of cylindrical configuration having a bottom end wall 14 and alarger diameter ilanged opening 16. A pair of battery cells 18 inabutment with each other in series and bound together by a pair ofcrossed rubber bands 20 is received in the hollow casing 12. A wire 24is electrically secured to the bottom cell 18 by the positive terminal22 and extends upwardly along the cells 18 in the casing 12 and isconnected in series with lamp 30 and is' insulated along the cells 18 bya strip of insulating tape 26. Another strip of insulating tape 28 isadhered over wire 24 and parallel therewith to the underlying tape 26which is adhered to the cells 18. From the lamp 30 of the seriescircuit, line 32 is electrically connected with the leaf springelectrical contact 34 which is insulated from the upper cell 18 by astrip of insulated tape 36. O11 the other side of spring contact 34 anoverlapping strip of electrical insulating tape 38 is adhered to theupper portion of contact 34 overlapping and adhering to cell 18 and tape36. A switch 40 is pivotable within switch housing 41 on a transversepin 42 enabling movement thereby of switch button 44 which is slidablewithin the switch housing 41 by pins 45 which press downwardly on thecontact 34 and thus grounding the contact to the upper cell 1S andforming a series circuit with the lamp 30. A reflector 46 of parabolicconfiguration is xedly ICC secured as by adhesive 47 to the topmostsurface of the upper cell 18 and is centrally in alignment with the bulb30. A lens 48 of convex prismatic conliguration is ixedly received atthe outer edge of reflector 46 and the reflector 46 is flush with theupper flanged opening 16 of the casing 12.

In operation, the person using the llashlight presses inward on theswitch 40 and continues to hold it downward and button 44 pressesdownward on contact 34 which contacts the case of the upper cell 18 andlights the bulb 30. If the person using the llashlight then wishes lamp30 to light for a continuous length of time, he then presses down on theswitch 40 and rotates it forwardly toward the lens 48 and thus button 44is cammed downwardly and will lock the contact 34 in contact with theupper cell 18 and the lamp will light until the operator pullsdownwardly on switch 40 toward the end wall.

It will thus be recognized that upon any failure of the containedcomponents it is disposable.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shallbe understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope ofthe present invention as defined by the appended claim.

What we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

A flashlight comprising: a cylindrical casing, a plurality of batterycells in series relation in said casing, elastic band means holding saidbattery cellsI together in electrically conductive engaging relationshipto each other, rst and second electrically conductive wires and a bulband a switch in series connection with said cells, said rst wire beingelectrically secured to a terminal of one of said cells and to saidbulb, said second wire being electrically secured to said bulb, and saidswitch including an electrically conductive spring leaf electricallysecured to said second wire and thereby electrically connected to saidbulb at all times, said spring leaf being operable when actuated tocontact a portion of one of said cells and make an electrical circuitthrough said bulb.

References Cited in the ille of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,834,612 Gillingham et al. Dec. l, 1931 2,373,553 Fetterman Apr. 10,1945 2,461,118 Lippincott Feb. 8, 1949 2,600,418 Muller June 17, 19522,632,094 Akerley Mar. 17, 1953 2,655,593 Fredrickson Oct. 13, 19532,817,754 Moore Dec. 24, 1957 2,826,681 Anthony et al Mar.11, 19582,879,381 Colley Mar. 24, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 840,538 Great BritainJuly 6, 1960

